Advocates call for lifting barriers to food aid

Advocates call for lifting barriers to food aid

State Rep. Dan Ramos of Lorain and others called attention today to Ohio restrictions on food aid that Ramos said have forced more than 128,000 Ohioans off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program since 2013.

“It is disheartening that thousands more jobless Ohioans are being denied critical food aid for them and their families. Hunger doesn’t just stop at the county line, and neither should efforts to support vulnerable Ohioans in their time of need,” Ramos said at a Columbus press conference.

Governor Kasich has accepted federal food aid for some struggling parts of Ohio but not others. Kasich accepted what is known as a federal waiver of time limits on food assistance for only 18 mostly rural counties for 2016. Urban areas with large minority populations were left out, as were many other counties.

“Ohio has pockets where the economic recovery never came, where people of all ages struggle to get consistent work and many are hungry,” said Policy Matters Ohio Senior Project Director Wendy Patton. “Federal rules make allowances for areas like this; Ohio should take advantage of the federal waivers in all cities and counties that qualify.”

Said Ohio Association of Foodbanks Director Lisa Hamler-Fugitt: “This food assistance would allow our hungry friends and neighbors to stand in the grocery store checkout lines – instead of forcing them to stand in food pantry and soup kitchen lines.”

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Policy Matters Ohio is a nonprofit, nonpartisan state policy research institute